There’s a friend with whom I share a love of cars. We talk about naturally aspirated engines, i4s, GT3s, and other cool things, but today we texted about something beyond cool:
I remember one day when I was seven my mother telling me to put on a sweater so that I wouldn’t catch cold. My aunt Iris scoffed and said, “You can’t catch cold from being cold, Marjorie! It’s a virus!” My mom retorted, “A cold’s name is cold.”
The common cold occurs for the purpose of clearing something. In the tangled case of my friend above, his cold was a classic—a cold for the purpose of clearing cold. The dietitian’s prescription featured cucumber, a vegetable very cold in nature, raw kale, also cold in nature, raw fennel, and berries which are likely taken from the refrigerator or freezer. Foods that are cold or raw have downward vectors. Cold sinks. Chia, being a seed, also has a downward vector. So this cold raw drink sent a clear strong message to the body: cool down and clear by evacuation. The body responds with a bowel movement or urination, while the body—in particular the digestive tract—becomes cold.
The secondary response must then be to warm, because a cold digestive tract will not be able to break down and digest the next incoming food. To warm, the body moves yang qi, which is hot, distributing that heat upward to the digestive tract. The natural, necessary warmth of the tract is then restored and along with it, the capacity to digest food to ensure survival. All the responses of the body are ultimately geared to survival.
The movement of yang, or kidney yang to be more specific, or in western terms, adrenaline, is exciting. People will tell you that their smoothies make them feel so clear and alive and ready to go, but all that sensation is a response to the damage the cold is bringing.
If the cold onslaught continues, the body will seek other avenues to eliminate the newly introduced cold. It creates mucus for the purpose of gathering the cold and moves it upward to the sensory orifices. A runny nose, sneezing, coughing, watery eyes, sometimes even vomiting can follow in the body’s attempt to clear the cold. Again, the driver of this response is yang qi. Yang qi, otherwise known and warming-moving qi, is created through food, especially protein, and especially served warm or hot.
Over time, the body cannot keep up with the demand on yang qi. Depletion of yang qi results and the person becomes tired. And because the digestive tract is powered by yang qi, difficulty in digestion follows. Particles of undigested food can be seen in the stools. The undigested food in the gut ferments and the multiplyingbacteria feasting on them expel gas, leading to bloating. Cold contracts the naturally moving gut, causing stabbing pains in the abdomen. The depleted body then allows the stool to be loose in an attempt to clear cold, and diarrhea follows. As the cold progresses, the channels start seizing, leading to headaches, muscle pain, tightness, stiffness, joint pain, and then arthritis.
Yang qi is the foundation of the immune system, so the yang deficiency combined with cold inhibits the immune system, result in a deepening of the colds. The chest is overcome with mucus, the cardiovascular system begins to stagnate, the uterus becomes unable to hold a fetus as it’s constrained by cold, or the menstrual period becomes a dreaded time of curling up in a ball with horrible contracting pain, all from dietary cold.
In his text my friend said that it’s 100 degrees where he lives and that it makes sense to cool with smoothies. No, we cool down in very hot weather by sweating. Hydration is the key to body temperature regulation. Ask anyone from North Africa to India. There’s no cold food there, but their food is wet. That’s the key. Wet food. (This is the subject of my husband’s books, Welcoming Food, I & II.)
Cold is not a friend to the body. The body will do everything it can to get rid of it. And then, in our culture, we blame the body for misbehaving. The body doesn’t make mistakes. It is constantly responding and doing its utmost best.
A raw, cold smoothie brings on a cold eventually. But good food, cooked and hot… that’s a recipe for a strong digestive tract, a robust immune system, flexible joints, normal periods, a happy tummy, and longevity.
Ann Cecil-Sterman
Venice, Italy
September 17, 2025